From Fox8 Mississippi:
Serving 20 years in law enforcement, four of those years as a school and research officer in Hancock County, [Todd] Drummond grew to love protecting school children. He retired in 2016, then two years later in 2018 he was devastated to learn children had been killed while at school in Florida.
The following year, he created a charity "Defend Our Children" with the mission to stop school shootings.
"The charity is structured in a format for donations to help less privileged schools," said Drummond. "The mission is to stop school shootings by equipping schools with our desks. The movement is to engage our nation."
The safe space desk is made with ballistic material and it took about three years to bring it to life.
The desk weighs 130 pounds, which is supposed to make it more difficult to move, with handles that can only be opened from the inside. According to the company, this makes the desk useful for protecting students from "tornado producing weather" (which, at that weight, sure) as well as bullying and sexual assault.
"The "ballistic material" used can supposedly "withstand the impact of similar to a bowling ball hitting it at 55 miles an hour." It's not clear how well it works with bullets, which, while admittedly smaller than bowling balls, tend to travel about 1700 miles per hour. Still, the desk would probably protect you more than a bulletproof backpack (or bulletproof hoodie) ever could.
Each of these "Defender Safe Space Desks" costs $1800, though Drummond says he plans on donating them to schools in need through his charity, which also supposedly provides resources to stop bullying, violence, and sexual assault in schools (as well as protections and improved procedures relating to extreme weather events, which is odd, but appreciated).
'Enough is enough': South Mississippi man creates desk to keep children safe during school shootings [Brandy McGill / Fox 8]
